Justice Sule Shuaibu of the Federal High Court, Calabar, Cross River State, has granted bail to the detained journalist, Agba Jalingo, in the sum of N10 million with one surety in like sum.
Jalingo, who is facing a four-count bordering on terrorism and treason, spent 175 days in detention before he was finally granted bail.
In granting the bail, Justice Shuaibu attached other conditions such as; Jalingo must not travel outside the country without the consent of the court, deposit refundable cash of N700,000 with the court registrar, who will pay it into an interest-yielding account with a commercial bank, and the surety must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court with a verifiable address and show means that he will be able to forfeit the bail bond.
Other conditions are that both the defendant and the surety must each submit two passport photographs to the court, and Jalingo must depose to an oath that he will be available in court for trials.
Jalingo’s matter came up afresh on Thursday before Justice Shuaibu after the former judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, recused himself twice and the Cross River State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Tanko Ashang, took over the case.
The judge adjourned the matter to the 6th, 7th and 8th of April 2020 for the prosecution to open and close its case while other motions may be treated before that day.